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Old 06-18-2008, 06:39 PM
 
8 posts, read 38,762 times
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Until recently I was planning on moving to Austin, TX, but that no longer seems right.

It's definitely time for me to move, unfortunately I don't know where on earth to even look. Well that's not completely true, I do know exactly what kind of place I'd like to live, I just have no idea where it's located. You'll have to forgive my lack of explaining this clearly at the moment, ha.



Ideally: somewhere green, lots of trees, not a lot of snow, not super cold/hot temps (I live with -20 to 120 in Wyoming, its hard on you), not very humid (least not hot and humid), somewhere artist friendly and around 500,000-750,000 people.



I'm a blacksmith artist, I make my living making functional iron work. Here is an idea of what I do, just a couple pieces of my work:

Stephen67's deviantART Gallery



First off, I don't want to go anywhere I have already been, no point in getting into it, I'm just looking for somewhere new.

I've lived in Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and now Wyoming.

Montana is pretty much out the question. As much as I love it it gets too cold and there is too few people, just like Wyoming. I'd rather not be as far south as Arizona (I lived in Phoenix), its difficult to work as a blacksmith when its that hot, plus I don't want to live in the desert again if I can avoid it (I like trees, ha).

Colorado Springs is about what I would consider perfect as far as weather and climate goes, but I'm not moving back.

I lived in Portland, OR and the constant drizzle and lack of lightning drove me nuts. I loved how green everything was, but the drizzle was killer. Rain is ok, constant drizzle for months at a time is just depressing.


So I guess I am looking for a place almost exactly like Colorado Springs that isn't Colorado Springs (or the Denver area). Oregon might be the place to look, but further in than Portland. Utah doesn't seem right for me (nothing against it, just not where I feel I should be).

I know that's a lot of information and thought, but any help is appreciated.
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Old 06-18-2008, 07:50 PM
 
Location: Chicago
3,340 posts, read 9,660,623 times
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Omaha maybe, we get some snow and the occasional blizzard and we are the arbor state, we have tons of trees. In the Winter, we usually get down to single digits as lows and in the summer, low hundreds. We are a very artist friendly town and we have a strong and growing economy.
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Old 06-18-2008, 07:57 PM
 
Location: St Simons Island, GA
23,356 posts, read 43,822,059 times
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Asheville, NC
Charlottesville, VA
Raleigh, NC
Charleston, SC
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Old 06-18-2008, 08:32 PM
 
13,337 posts, read 39,759,108 times
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Asheville NC. Awesome weather. Its high elevation up in the Smoky Mountains gives it mild, less humid summers than the rest of the Southeast, and its Southern lattitude gives it less harsh winters than other mountain cities farther north.

It's a VERY artist-friendly city. It may be a bit small, though, with a metro population of 400,000'ish, although it's only 100 miles from Charlotte NC and Knoxville TN.
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Old 06-18-2008, 09:26 PM
 
8 posts, read 38,762 times
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Thanks for the input


Asheville seems about perfect as far as weather goes, but housing as well as a few other things don't seem to fit me.


Being "artist friendly" isn't a huge deal, ironically I don't even like to be around other artists, ha. I guess there isn't anywhere in the world I could move to that wouldn't want anything of an artistic nature, ha.

Thanks for the suggestions, more are welcome ^_^
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Old 06-18-2008, 09:33 PM
 
Location: Chicago
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Oh and I forgot to mention that housing in Omaha is cheap
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Old 06-18-2008, 09:36 PM
 
Location: The Big D
14,862 posts, read 42,718,846 times
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What happened that Austin did not pan out? I'd suggest that area due to your trade and how BIG iron work is around Texas for interior decorations. Just pick up a copy of Texas Monthly and your kind of work is featured in there. BTW, I LOVE the stairway railings. MY GOSH, I'd LOVE to have you redo mine if I could talk my husband into it. There are a few really good custom ironworks people in the Dallas area that we deal with in business. If your looking to go to work for someone I can send you some names if the Dallas area interests you.

What about Ft Worth, TX? It has a western image still w/ the cattle drives they do in the Stockyards (for show nowadays).

With your type of work your going to want to be where the real estate market has not tanked and people are still willing to cough up some heavy dough for your artwork (which is BEAUTIFUL). How popular is the interior iron work in the Carolina's? I know in Charleston, SC there are the Charleston Gates down South of Broad and the area has some BEAUTIFUL ironworks. That might be an option but it would be warm and humid in the summers but LOTS of trees. Same for Savannah, Georgia. Beautiful architecture in the area that would support your trade just need to find out the real estate economy and how busy the design field is right now.

Good luck
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Old 06-18-2008, 09:38 PM
 
Location: RVA
2,420 posts, read 4,698,602 times
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Default Iron City

Hmmm. Three (count 'em) rivers. Arguably more trees than any city in the country, dirt cheap cost of living (you could afford an apartment AND a workshop for the cost of an apartment in Austin), 4 seasons (winter isn't awful here, at least not like you described Wyoming), a healthy arts community in a thoroughly unpretentious blue collar town (trust me, I make with the art and dislike "artists" too) with a decidedly Eastern European ambiance and almost 250 years of metalworking history. Ever think of checking out Pittsburgh?
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Old 06-18-2008, 11:04 PM
 
5,816 posts, read 15,860,959 times
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I'd suggest central or northern CA, especially near the coast, for the climate and the green landscape. The drawback is that offhand I can't think of any cities there that fit the size range you're looking for. Maybe some of the inland cities in the Northwest would work. I'm thinking Spokane or Boise. Relatively mild winters for being as far north as they are, but not drizzly and gray like western WA and OR.

The trouble with places east of the Mississippi is that it's hard to find something that meets your criteria for climate. Most places have either snowy, blustery winters or muggy summers or both. Eastern locales with milder climates, like Asheville, are smaller than the population you specified. However, if Asheville has some appeal, I might also suggest Charlottesville. As with Asheville, it depends how you feel about college towns, which have such a distinct character that many people will likely either really like them or really dislike them, without a lot of middle ground in their feelings. If college towns work for you, I'd suggest putting Bloomington, IN, and Morgantown, WV, on your list of possibilities.

I'll beat MissyMom to the punch here, and suggest Louisville as another possibility, though it's possible that when you consider metro population it's bigger than your criteria. I'll at least suggest Louisville, though, since the issue of how big a city feels is a matter of personal perception, so I can't be sure on the basis of an approximate population range that Louisville would be a larger city than you're looking for.

Weather is another subjective issue. That being the case, I'd also suggest the southern coast of New England. Depends on how much winter you would consider too much. The climate is milder in this area than it is in the rest of New England, but it's still New England, so you're going to get some cold and some snow. If you think the climate there would work for you, then you might consider Providence, or perhaps Newport, New London, or New Haven if you'd prefer a city, but a city smaller than Providence.
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Old 06-18-2008, 11:13 PM
 
Location: NWArkansas/Seattle
395 posts, read 1,361,067 times
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I was actually going to suggest Seattle or Bellevue...mayyybe Tacoma. B/c there is virtually no humidity, never gets too cold... or too hot...and very artist friendly. But I think that this area is similar as far as the "constant drizzle" is with Portland.
And you already said you did not like that.
So I would prob. Suggest somewhere in Northern California maybe central Cal as well.
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